No fewer than 32 persons were reported killed in the wee hours of Tuesday when gunmen numbering about 150 attacked Kizara village in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
It was learnt that the heavily armed gunmen, who stormed the village at about 4 a.m riding on 38 motorcycles, shot sporadically at anybody in sight.
An eye-witnesses told newsmen that the attackers torched several houses and shops in the village even as they moved from house to house pretending to be residents of the village and shouting for help.
The witness narrated that when people came out upon hearing the calls for help, they were either shot dead or hacked to death with machetes by the gunmen.
The witness, who craved anonymity, said that the gunmen also invaded the residents of the Village Head, Alhaji Lawali Muhammad, the Chief Imam, Alhaji Usman Adamu, and his assistant, killing them.
Confirming the incident, the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara, Mr Usman Gwary, who visited the village under tight security, said that 32 persons were killed; contrary to a claim by the villagers that 58 persons lost their lives in the attack.
Gwary told newsmen that policemen were hot on the heels of the fleeing gunmen.
Also, the Chairman of Tsafe Local Government Council, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, said that the villagers had been living in fear since suspected men of the underworld sent a letter to the head of the vigilance group threatening to kill him.
